INTRODUCTION.

THE minute studies of antiquaries have been a very favourite subject of ridicule with those who have not followed them sometimes with, sometimes without reason. In this, as in every other pursuit, men are apt to forget the value of the object in the pleasure of the chase, and run down some incomprehensible or untenable theory about some matter that never was and never will be of importance, with a zeal and intensity of purpose which might have been better bestowed upon a better end. But notwithstanding the many jokes, good and bad, deserved and undeserved, which have been levelled at this branch of learning, it is one in which all inquiring minds (and no mind that is not inquiring can be worth much), not entirely engrossed by some favourite occupation, will feel more or less of interest. If we could look into the future, the past would probably lose much of its importance in our eyes , and our curiosity would be much more strongly excited to ascertain the state of the world a thousand years hence, than its state a thousand years ago. But this power is denied us; and to form an estimate of the character and capabilities of mankind more comprehensive than the experience of a single generation can afford, we must apply to the retrospect of the past. Not that this curiosity influences none but those who might wish or be expected or draw profit from its gratification; on the contrary, it seems a temper natural, in greater or less degree, to all alike, reflecting or unreflecting. It is this which causes us to look with pleasure on an antiquated town, to grope among ruins, even where there is evidently nothing to repay us for the dirt and trouble of the search; and generally to invest everything entirely out of date with a value which its original possessors would be much puzzled to understand.

But time works constantly, as well as slowly; and therefore, however antiquated the appearance, and however old-fashioned and changeless the habits of any place or people may seem to be, they are sure to present a very imperfect type of what they were even a single century ago. We have often wished, in various parts of England, that we could recall for a moment the ancient aspect of the country reclothe the downs of Wiltshire with their native sward, and see them studded with tumuli and Druid temples, free and boundless as they extended a thousand years ago,before the devastations of the plough and Inclosure Acts; recall the leafy honours of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, and re-people the neighbourhood of Sheffield and the Don with oaks instead of steam-engine and manufactory chimneys; or renew the decayed splendour of those magnificent monasteries whose ruins still strike the beholder with admiration. If the romantic fictions of the middle ages could be realised, which tell of mirrors framed with magic art to represent what had formerly passed, or was passing, in distant parts of the earth, the happy discoverer might soon make his fortune in this age of exhibitions. What exhibition could be found more interesting than a camera obscura, which should reflect past incidents of historical or private interest, and recall, with the vividness and minuteness of life, at least the external characteristics of long past ages!

Such fancies are but idle speculations. The past can only be recalled by the imagination working upon such details as the pen or the pencil of contemporaries may have preserved; yet, in one single instance, the course of events has done more to preserve a living picture of a former age one, too, in which the civilized world is deeply interested than we could reasonably have hoped for. Deserted places are usually too much dilapidated to convey more than a very imperfect idea of the minutiae of their arrangement, or of the manners of their former occupiers: places which have been preserved by being inhabited, are, of necessity, changed more or less to suit the changing manners of those who tenant them. It was, therefore, matter of no ordinary interest when it was known that a buried Roman city had been discovered; a city overwhelmed and sealed up in the height of its prosperity, and preserved from the ravages of the barbarian conquerors of Italy, and the sacrilegious alterations and pillagings of modern hands. But the hopes which might reasonably have been formed upon the discovery of Herculaneum, at the beginning of the last century, were frustrated in great measure by the depth, and hardness of the volcanic products under which that city was buried. The process of clearing it was necessarily one of excavation, not of denudation; and to avoid the labour of raising the quarried matter to the surface, from a depth of 70 or 80 feet, former excavations have been filled up with the rubbish of new excavations, and now, besides a few houses, the theatre is the only building open to inspection, and that an unsatisfactory and imperfect inspection by torch-light. Museums have been profusely enriched with various articles of use or luxury discovered at Herculaneum, which might serve to illustrate the Latin authors, and throw light upon the private life of Italy; but no comprehensive view could be obtained, and consequently no new idea formed of the disposition and appearance of a Roman city. Fortunately, the disappointment was repaired by the discovery of Pompeii, a companion city overwhelmed in the great eruption of Vesuvius, A. D. 79, together with Herculaneum, and destined to be the partner of its disinterment as well as its burial. There was, however, this difference in their fate that, owing to its greater distance from the volcano, as well as its more elevated situation, Pompeii, was not reached by the streams of lava which have successively flowed over Herculaneum, and elevated the surface of the earth from 70 to 100 feet. Pompeii was buried by a shower of ashes, pumice, and stones, forming a bed of variable depth, but seldom exceeding 20 or 24: feet, loose and friable in texture, and therefore easily removed, so as completely to uncover and expose the subjacent buildings.

The upper stories of the houses. which appear to have consisted chiefly of wood, were either burnt by the red-hot stones ejected from Vesuvius, or broken down by the weight of matter collected on their roofs and floors. With this exception, we see a flourishing city in the very state in which it existed nearly eighteen centuries ago : the buildings as they were originally designed, not altered and patched to meet the exigencies of newer fashions; the paintings undimmed by th leaden touch of time; household furniture left in the confusion of use; articles, even of intrinsic value, abandoned in the hurry of escape, yet safe from the robber, or scattered about as they fell from the trembling hand, which could not pause or stoop for its most valuable possessions : and, in some instances, the bones of the inhabitants, bearing sad testimony to the suddenness and completeness of the calamity which overwhelmed them. " I noticed," says M. Simond, “a striking memorial of this destructive eruption in the Forum opposite to the temple of Jupiter. A new altar of white marble, exquisitely beautiful, and apparently just out of hand of the sculptor, had been erected there; an enclosure was building all round; the mortar, just dashed against the side of the wall, was but half spread out; you saw the long sliding stroke of the trowel about to return and obliterate its own track but it never did return : the hand of the workman was suddenly arrested, and, after the lapse of 1800 years the whole looks so fresh and new that you would alums swear that the mason was only gone to his dinner, to come back immediately to smooth the roughness."

It is unnecessary to expatiate upon the interest of these discoveries; yet notwithstanding their interest the subject has been hardly accessible to the English reader. The excavations have been prosecuted to a considerable extent since the elegant work of Sir W. Gell was published, which describes only the buildings, leaving untouched one interesting branch of inquiry connected with the numerous articles which have been found, throwing light upon the private life of the Italians in the first century. There are foreign works of great research and magnificence, but these, from their price, are only accessible to a very small class of readers and therefore little has been generally known of Pompeii, except what may be gathered from the short and scattered notices of travellers. This work is intended as an attempt to supply the deficiency. It is proposed, first, to give a detailed account of the ruins as they now exist, together with a description of their former state, as far as it can be made out; with occasional digressions upon points connected with the history or antiquities of the place, and notices of the most curious and important articles which have been discovered. The first part will contain the public edifices, so far as they have yet been disinterred : the second will be devoted to the houses and private habits of their tenants.

The chief authorities which have been consulted, are the great work of M. Mazois on Pompeii; the 'Museo Borbonico,' a periodical work now in course of publication at Naples; Sir W. Gell's ' Pompeiana;' and Donaldson's ' Pompeii.' We have also had the advantage of numerous observations made on the spot by Mr. William Clarke, architect, by whom the materials for this work have been collected and the drawings made, either from the originals or from plates in the above works.

For the use of such readers as may wish to enter upon a deeper study of the subject, we shall here add a list of the principal books that may be consulted. Among these, the work of Mazois, already mentioned, is one of the first, both in point of time and of importance. Mazois resided at Naples during the years 1809, 1810, and 1811, and was encouraged and assisted in his researches by Queen Caroline, the wife of Murat, who took a great interest in Pompeii, and to whom he dedicated his book. Mazois died in 1826, before be had finished his work, which was continued by Gau. Its title is Les Ruines de Pompeii, desginees et mesurees par Fr. Mazois, architecte, pendant 1809, 1810, et 1811 : 4 vols. large folio, Paris, Didot, 1812-1838. It contains nearly 200 plates, and embraces the results of the excavations from 1757 to 1821.

Sir W. Gell's Pompeiana consists of two series, each of two octavo volumes, of which the first series was published at London, in 1824, and the second in 1830. The former contains an account of the excavations down to the year 1819; which is continued in the latter, It has many illustrations, some of them coloured.

Donaldson's Pompeii, illustrated with Picturesque Views, engraved by W B. Cooke, was published in London in 1827. 2 vols. large fol.

The French work of Breton, Pompeia, par Ernest Breton, 2nd edition, Paris, 1855, is a handsome book, with many good illustrations, and describes, in one large 8vo. vol., at a moderate price, the progress of the excavations till about the last ten or twelve years.

A more elaborate work than this, and more accurate in point of scholarship, is that of Overbeck. Overbeck published his first edition in 1856, without having visited Pompeii, and the book consequently contained many errors and imperfections. These, however, have been remedied in a second edition, the fruits of a visit to Pompeii, to be completed in the present year, and consisting of two volumes, illustrated with numerous cuts. The first volume contains the history and topography of the city, with an account of the buildings; the second is devoted to Pompeian art. Overbeck's book is, for its compass, undoubtedly the fullest and most accurate yet published; though the desire to be original, the besetting sin of most German writers, leads him now and then into some crotchety theories. The volume published contains no account of the tombs; an omission which will probably be supplied in the second volume.

The handsomest work on Pompeii is that of Fausto and Felice Niccolini, now publishing in numbers, entitled, Le Case ed i Monumenti di Pompei, fol., Napoli, 1864; but its price will place it beyond the reach of most readers. It contains beautifully coloured plates, besides ground-plans, cuts, &c., with descriptive letter-press. Thirty-two numbers are already published, at 15 francs each.

To those who are studying Pompeii thoroughly and historically, the work of the Commendatore Fiorelli, the present able director of the excavations and of the Museum of Naples, is indispensable. It is entitled Pompeianarum Antiquitatum Histories, and contains, in two 8vo. vols., each of three Fasciculi, the records of the excavations, from their commencement in 1748 down to 1860, collected from the journals of the directors. These are printed verbatim; not a record of the discovery of a nail, or bolt, or fragment of statuary, or earthenware, is omitted; so that the reader will find the materials for a history rather than the history itself, which the somewhat magnificent title of the book may have led him to expect. To the archaeological student of Pompeii, the book, however, is of course invaluable; and it is only to be wished that its perusal had been facilitated by the promised index, or by a commentary. The first part of the journals, down to July, 1764, is in Spanish; after that date in Italian. After the appointment of Signor Fiorelli to the direction of the excavations, he continued to publish the progress of them in a periodical work in numbers, entitled, Giornale degli Scavi di Pompei, which, however, appeared irregularly, and has been brought, we fear, to a premature conclusion. The title of it is as much too modest as that of the History is too grand; since it contains, besides the journal of the excavations, elaborate descriptions of the more important houses and works of art discovered, as well as literary disquisitions on matters relating to Pompeii.

Besides the substantive works here enumerated, many interesting and important papers and pamphlets on subjects connected with Pompeii have been published separately, and in various journals, by eminent Italian and other archeologists, as Quaranta, Niccolini, Arditi, Bonucci, Fiorelli, Minervini, and others. They will be found in the Memorie della Accademia di Archeologia di Napoli, the Annali dell' Instituto di corrispondenza Archeologica (Rome and Paris, 1829-57), and the Bulletino Archeologico Napolitano, of Avellino, afterwards continued by Minervini.

M. Marc Monnier, of Geneva, has also published some good papers on Pompeii in the Revue des Deux Mondes, as well as a little book on the subject, which will be useful to those who read as they run, and wish rather to be amused than instructed.

There are also separate works on remarkable Pompeian buildings, as that of Raoul Rochette : La Masson du Poete Tragique a Pompei, fol., Paris : of Bechi, Del Calcidico della cripta di Pompeia, l'anno 1820, 4to., Napoli : of Millin, Description des Pompei 1812, Naples, 1813; and works by Falkener and Giulio Minervini on the house of Lucretius, &c.

The inscriptions discovered at Pompeii are best given by Monamsen, in his Inscriptiones Regni Neapolitans; p. 112 seq. They do not comprehend, however, the graffiti, or inscriptions traced with a sharp point on walls and columns. These will be found, up to the date of the respective works, in Deau Wordsworth's Pompeian Inscriptions, or Specimens and Facsimiles of Ancient Writings on the Walls of Buildings at Pompeii, London, 1846; and in Garrucei's Graffiti di Pompei, 4to., Paris, 1856; which also contains some ingenious remarks on ancient writing.

Signor Fiorelli has commenced a work entitled, Monuments Epigraphica Pompoiana ad fidem expresso, being facsimiles of the existing inscriptions. Only the first part, containing the Oscan inscriptions, has been published.

There are many rich and voluminous publications on the subject of Pompeian art. One of the earliest of them is the Antichita di Ercolano Pompei, large fol., 9 vols., Napoli, 1755-1792. Many of the subjects of this book, as well as others from other sources, were reproduced in a French work published at Paris by Didot, in 8 vols. large 8vo, and entitled Herculaneum et Pompei: general de Peintures, Bronzes, Mosaiques, &c., d6couverts. The Real Museo Borbonico, begun in 1824, forms 14 vols. 4to. in the Italian edition, and, though unequally executed, is the richest collection of Neapolitan antiquities.

The work of Raoul Rochette may also be mentioned, entitled Choix de Peintures de Pompei, Historique introduction with coloured' plates, large fol., Paris, 1844. There are also many other separate publications, which it would be too long to enumerate; and we shall content ourselves with only mentioning the German work of Ternite, Wandgemalde aus Pompei and Herculaneum mit einem erlauternden Texte, von E. 0. Muller, Berlin, 1844; and with reminding the reader that the second volume of Overbeck's new edition is devoted to the subject of Pompeian art.

It remains to mention that the best plan of Pompeii is that of Fiorelli, entitled Tabula Colonioe Venerioe Cornelioe Pompeis. It is in 42 sheets, which, put together, form a superficies of 140 square palms, being the 333,1 part of the true superficies. The small plan, reduced from this, and sold at the gates of Pompeii, is on the scale of 1666 parts of the true superficies. There is also a good plan by Jorio.

We may now add that Commendatore Fiorelli has drawn up an account of the excavations at Pompeii during his superintendence of them (1861-72), intended for the International Exhibition at Vienna in 1873. One vol. 4to., Naples, 1873.

We may also mention that a new Series of the Giornale degli Scavi was begun in 1868 by the students of the Scuola Archeologica di Pompei. It appears every month or two in 4to. numbers, and besides accounts of the progress of the excavations, contains papers on objects of art, or antiquarian interest, that may be discovered, as well as critical dissertations, reviews of books, &c. It is illustrated with engravings.

Among recent works on Pompeii we may particularly notice Wolfgang Helbig's Wandgemalde der Vesuv verschutteten Campaniens, 1 vol. 8vo., Leipzig, 1868. All the Pompeian Inscriptions, engraved, painted, and graffite, have been published by Langemeister in a Part of his Inscriptiones (1874).